Cameroon sentences 89 Boko Haram fighters to death
Sudan threatens to shut recently reopened borders with South Sudan
Fifa clarifies that it does not think that South Africa bought the 2010 World Cup
South Africa's president says Guptas do not appoint ministers
Top Malawian gospel singer Grace Chinga dies
South Africa dismisses World Cup hosting bribery allegations
Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Thursday 17 March 2016
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, in answering a written question about the appointment of ministers, has said he is responsible for the picking and dismissing ministers.
The leader of the opposition has alleged that the Gupta family has influenced the choosing of ministers.
Tulanana Bohela
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania's President John Magufuli and his wife made a surprise call to a popular morning programme on Clouds TV.
Mr Magufuli said he was a big fan of the show, before passing the phone over to his wife Janet, who also congratulated the programme presenters.
They also asked a question about the station's campaign to encourage youth to create opportunities for themselves.
It was a big surprise for the presenters and viewers of the show to take the president's call.
Mr Magufuli, who came to power in October, has not given any interviews to local or foreign media.
Image source, Clouds TVThe show presenters were suprised by the president's call
South Africa's opposition leader Mmusie Maimane is waiting to ask President Jacob Zuma about the appointment of the country's finance minister and whether the Gupta family had any influence on it.
He alleges that there is "growing body of evidence that suggests the Gupta family enjoys enormous and improper influence" over the president".
Mr Maimane tweeted the question he is about to ask:
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South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is answering questions in parliament in the midst of allegations that the wealthy Gupta family is exerting a political influence on the country.
Mr Zuma has started by talking about his recent diplomacy:
Image source, SA ParliamentYou can follow it live here:
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South Africa's Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was asked at the press conference about the World Cup bribery allegations about the claims surrounding the influence of the Gupta family.
He said:
Quote MessageWe are not governed by Guptas, we are not run by Guptas... the onus is on those who make such allegations to prove them."
Image source, ENCASouth Africa's sports minister has said that the country did pay $10m for an African diaspora football programme and to suggest it was a bribe "is despicable".
He added that the government considers the suggestion that this money was to be used for anything other than supporting the diaspora as an insult.
The South African government news service is tweeting parts of the statement:
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Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka, Zambia
Police in Zambia have found four mutilated bodies near a compound in the capital, Lusaka.
The bodies were discovered this morning by members of the public with multiple head injuries.
The ages of two of the four have been identified as 21 and 18 years old.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased were dumped in the area after being murdered elsewhere.
South Africa's sports minister is addressing accusations that his country paid a bribe to secure the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.
Fikile Mbalula said that South Africa won the bid "based on merit".
You can watch the press conference here:
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Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is on a visit to neighboring Ivory Coast four days after 18 people were killed by gunmen on the beach in the Grand Bassam resort.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said they carried out the attack.
The office of the president of Ivory Coast is tweeting photographs of Mrs Sirleaf's visit:
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The Liberian president told Ivorians: "We are standing with you in the fight against terrorism."
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Reuters news agency is reporting that the South African cabinet minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi was invited to the home of the wealthy Gupta family shortly after he was appointed mineral resources minister.
It's another revelation which will add fuel to the fire surrounding the allegations that the Guptas are exerting a political influence on the country.
Mr Ramatlhodi told Reuters that:
Quote Message"We did receive an invite as soon as the minister was appointed but he told them he was not taking any invites because his focus was to resolve the platinum strike."
The Gupta family said an earlier allegation that they tried to influence the appointment of a minister was political point scoring.
Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg
The newspapers here are full of stories about South Africa President Jacob Zuma's alleged relationship with the Guptas, a wealthy family with business ties here.
This follows claims by some government officials that they were offered ministerial positions by the members of the family during private meetings.
Opposition parties are expected to lean on the president during a question and answer session in parliament.
In addition to the revelation by Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was asked to be Finance Minister, former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor this week revealed that she was approached by the family to be minister of public enterprises when Barbara Hogan was sacked.
Nigeria's state-owned oil company has denied official allegations that it had failed to pay the government $16bn (£11bn) in oil revenues in a suspected case of fraud in 2014.
On Tuesday, the auditor general said, external Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) provided no explanation for the missing funds.
The report "may have been borne out of misunderstanding of how revenues from crude oil and gas sales are remitted [into the government] account," the NNPC said in a statement.
As of January 2015, the figure owed to the government was $1.64bn only, it quoted the company's Chief Financial Officer Isiaka Abdulrazaq as saying.
The auditor general's declaration is "erroneous," Mr Isiaka said, adding that the report had failed to account for costs including a fuel subsidy, pipeline vandalism and maintenance.
Read: Buhari's battle to clean up Nigeria's oil industry
Image source, afpNigeria is Africa's largest oil producer
South Africa's sports minister is due to make a statement on the allegations of bribery in connection with the country's bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
Fikile Mbalula comments come a day after a submission to a US court by football's world governing body, Fifa, said South Africa paid a bribe to help it secure the competition.
This was the first time that Fifa had made such a claim.
Mr Mbablula had previously said the allegation was untrue.
Image source, GalloSouth Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010
The secretary general of South Africa's governing ANC party has said that no-one is untouchable including President Jacob Zuma, the Reuters news agency is reporting.
Gwede Mantashe's comment comes in the wake of the revelation by the country's Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was offered the job of finance minister by the wealthy Gupta family.
The family denies the allegation.
Mr Zuma is under pressure over persistent claims about his relationship with the Gupta family, with the suggestion that they are exerting a political influence on the country.
Image source, AFPPresident Zuma is set to answer questions in parliament at 12:00 GMT today
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has warned that any Western military intervention in Libya could provoke uncontrollable developments, Reuters news agency reports.
Libya has had two competing governments since 2014, following the downfall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
But a UN-brokered peace deal is aimed at forming a unity government.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, external, Mr Sisi urged the foreign powers to support Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army - which is linked to the internationally recognised government based in the eastern city of Tobruk - in the fight against jihadists.
Quote Message"If we give arms and support to the Libyan National Army, it can do the job much better than anyone else, better than any external intervention that would risk putting us in a situation that could get out of hand and provoke uncontrollable developments."
He said Egypt was putting pressure on the parliament in Tobruk to accept the unity government and wanted all parties to take their share of responsibility.
Image source, ReutersThe well-known Malawian gospel singer Grace Chinga has died.
Malawi's Nyasa Times newspaper, external reports that a family friend Pastor Chris Suya said she was taken to hospital "after complaining of headache".
Quote MessageWe received a call that she was down with headache and we rushed there around seven in the evening. We took her to Queens Elizabeth Hospital where she, sadly passed away."
According to a post on her Facebook page, external uploaded a day before she died, the gospel singer was about to release a new album.
Image source, FacebookMalawians have been posting memorial messages on Twitter:
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You can see Grace perform here:
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South Africans are tweeting about the alleged political influence of the Gupta family.
It comes after Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said he was offered the finance minister's job by a member of the controversial family.
The Guptas have said the statement was political point-scoring.
But this hasn't stopped South Africans having some fun with the story.
The buzzword for what the Guptas are alleged to have done is "state capture".
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And people seem to like a certain movie franchise:
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Image source, Boko Haram videoCameroon has sentenced 89 members of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram to death on terror charges, the BBC Hausa service is reporting.
The 89 were convicted by a military court for their roles in several attacks in Cameroon's northern region which borders Nigeria - the area has often been targeted by the insurgents.
These people are part of the 850 in detention over alleged involvement in Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
This is the first time that people have been sentenced to death since a new anti-terror law was passed in 2014.
Twenty-two people were sentenced to death in 2013.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is set to face questions in parliament a day after Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said he was offered the position of finance minister by a member of the wealthy and controversial Gupta family.
The revelation appeared to confirm a long-running accusation that the family is exercising political influence over the president.
Last month, as Mr Zuma was giving his state of the nation address in parliament, members of the opposition EFF party chanted "Zupta must go!" before being thrown out.
South Africa's News24 website is reporting that the opposition Congress of the People party will be laying treason charges against the president, external.
Image source, AFPAt least 30 suspected members of militant Islamist group al-Shabab have been killed in two separate battles with Somali and Kenyan forces, officials say.
The authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland say 11 Islamists were killed when they attempted to seize several coastal villages.
The Kenyan army said it killed 19 militants who attacked a military camp in the southern Somali city of Afmadhow.
Al-Shabab has not yet commented on the incidents which happened on Wednesday.